


Half My Friends Are Crazy and the Others Are Depressed

by fleetwoodcheese



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Affectionate Insults, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Mortal, Andy and Joe are siblings, Andy's Adopted, Artist Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Booker doesn't betray anyone, Booker | Sebastien le Livre Needs Therapy, Booker's sons are now his brothers, Bullying, Celeste's last name is Cellier, Couple OCs for ~plot~, Domestic, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Friendly Threats of Violence?, High School, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Joe and Andy -centric, Joe is an art kid and I cant be convinced otherwise, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani is an Incurable Romantic, Lykon is alive!, M/M, Mortality, NO torture, Quynh is fine, References to ABBA, Swearing, Texting, There may be some French, Underage Drinking, and yet! here i am!, because au?, blame Booker and Celeste not me, joe has adhd, like how siblings do, no one asked for this!, or otherwise LGBT+
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:20:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26383273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleetwoodcheese/pseuds/fleetwoodcheese
Summary: The Old Guard High School AU that nobody asked for!-----"I’m in love, Andy!” Joe said wistfully flinging himself on his sister’s bed.“Took you long enough. It’s been a full two days since school started and you’re only just now in love? I think that’s a new record,” Andy said sarcastically before dodging a pillow hurled at her head. “Who is it this time?”“His name is Nicolo,” Joe sighed dreamily. “He’s new. He’s Italian.”-----Andy’s a senior. Joe and Booker are juniors. Nicky’s a junior foreign exchange student. Nile is a new sophomore. Quynh is Andy’s long distance girlfriend. Joe and Andy are siblings. Joe and Booker are bffs. (No betrayal in this au!!) Joe is a hopeless romantic. And Nile wandered into the GSA and has now been adopted by 4 upperclassmen.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 11
Kudos: 115





	1. Love You Forever More

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a bit worried that some of my characterization is a bit off, but I think with them being 15-18 instead of, ya know, hundreds of years old, there are naturally going to be some differences.
> 
> Also, I love a good enemies to lovers storyline, but this ain't it! (Sorry, babes!)
> 
> GSA stands for Gay Straight Alliance or Gender Sexuality Alliance, just so everyone knows!
> 
> The chapter title is from, you guessed it, "Waterloo" by ABBA! (history themed music is lowkey the best)

“I’m in love, Andy!” Joe said, wistfully flinging himself on his sister’s bed.

“Took you long enough. It’s been a full two days since school started and you’re only just now in love? I think that’s a new record,” Andy said sarcastically before dodging a pillow hurled at her head. “Who is it this time?”

“His name is Niccolo,” Joe sighed dreamily. “He’s new. He’s Italian.”

“Sounds romantic. How many times have you spoken exactly?” Andy smirked and ducked- he was going to run out of pillows at some point. Her brother was always ‘in love’ with someone. To some end, Andy admired him for it-- it had taken her years of having a crush on Quynh to finally get her head out of her ass and make any sort of move. But unlike her, Joe was naturally affectionate, always open for anything it seemed. Still, Joe was also her little brother and one thing she learned quickly about having a much more extraverted, much more ‘romance driven’ little brother is that opening your heart is the way for it to get broken. Andy would’ve thought after all the relationships that ended poorly, at some point, Joe would stop. She thought he’d eventually say ‘screw it all’ and take a page out of Andy’s book and close himself off from the world for a while. But that’s not Joe. Joe is an optimist. Joe can see the worst sides of people and still love them somehow. Andy is grateful for that, no doubt, but she always has this nagging feeling in the back of her head- “This is it. This is the one that’s going to break him.”

“We’ve spoken multiple times!” he said with mock offense. “He’s in my Chem class AND he sat next to me in English. Should I learn Italian? I mean I’m already at least conversational in French so it shouldn’t be too hard…”

“Maybe wait until your third conversation before you make any major life decisions,” Andy quipped. Joe just rolled his eyes, and turned over on his side, propping his head up on his elbow.

“Fine. How was your second day of senior year, Ms. ‘I don’t want to hear about my future brother-in-law’?” Joe asked, feigning innocence even though they both knew damn well that Andy would rather talk about literally anything else. She was just riding this thing out til college. Her girlfriend, the one thing left worth going to school for, was now living across the country, and Andy was already sick of all the talk about “you seniors are now the leaders of the school” and “you have to set a good example for the younger kids.” She wondered what the teachers thought happened over the summer that made them go from being “kids” to being “leaders.” 

“It sucked ass, what else would you think?” she responded.

“How’s Steven?” Joe asked, purposely calling Mr. Merrick by his first name. “Still an asshole?” Somehow Andy had gotten trapped in the quicksand that is Merrick’s advisory, the more you struggle the more you get pulled in. He lived for trying to get people that hated school to actually care which meant Andy was like his white whale. On top of that, Merrick was the “head of high school” which meant he cherished advisory as it was the only part of his job that actually meant dealing with students. “As bad as ever,” she grimaced. “If not worse.”

“How’s Quynh? She started school a couple days ago too, didn’t she?” Joe asked, knowing that if nothing else, Andy would perk up at the thought of Quynh.

“She’s fine,” Andy said, picking up her phone, probably to text Quynh. “You know, she’s always been more involved than me. I don’t know how we’re gonna get anything done in the GSA this year without her. I’m honestly kinda worried about it.”

“Oh riiiiight,” Joe smirked. “You’re like ~in charge~ in charge this year. That’ll be fun to watch.” Now it was Andy’s turn to throw a pillow at him. 

Andy woke up the next day to her phone buzzing every other second. She groaned and turned over before being momentarily blinded by the light of her phone. It was 6:55. She cursed whoever denied her that last few minutes of sleep. The last few text messages were from Quynh, who she could never stay mad at long, but the first one almost made her get out of bed to murder her brother.

joe 6:48 AM  
uhhh i may or may not have texted quynh about how your not sure what to do about gsa without her :///  
dont kill me pls 😭

quynh <3 6:51 AM  
A little birdy told me you’re nervous about the GSA without me this year  
Don’t kill him. I think it’s sweet :)  
You’re gonna be fine babe

She rolled her eyes at Joe and sent a quick response to Quynh which involved more emoji hearts than she would care to admit. She stumbled down the hallway to the kitchen where she found a travel coffee mug all filled up and ready to go with a post it note on the side. The note simply said “Don’t murder your brother ❤ Mom.” She rolled her eyes fondly; she was used to being the only person in the house who wasn’t a morning person. Their mom got up for work early, and Joe was always there chatting chirpily to her while she packed her lunch. Andy got dressed relatively quickly before standing in Joe’s doorway and yelling at him for a solid minute before he finally took out his earbuds and looked up from his sketchbook.

“Hey, asshole, your ride’s about to leave,” she said, shaking her keys in front of him as he gave her an over-exaggerated frown. 

As they got in the car, Andy flipped to her “piss off Joe” playlist on Spotify, just to give him a little Hell for ratting her out, and they pulled out of the driveway to the dulcet sounds of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople).” At some point, Joe put his earbuds in to try to drown out Andy’s horrible taste in music. Naturally, Andy turned the volume up on the car radio in response. This cycle went on for a while, and by the time they pulled into their parking spot about a block away, Andy was playing “Waterloo” by ABBA at top volume while Joe destroyed his eardrums by playing Frank Ocean as loud as his earbuds and phone would let him.

They got out of the car far angrier than they should be while they both now had a substantially greater chance of needing hearing aids later on in life than they were before. Joe was silently fuming when he felt an arm bump into his.

“Waterloo? Really?” Booker asked sarcastically.

“Believe me,” Joe grimaced, staring daggers into the back of Andy’s head. “Not my choice.” 

“What did you do?” Joe looked at him, face twisting into a confused knot. “If ~Andy~ is listening to ~ABBA~, she’s definitely mad at you.”

“I just texted her girlfriend,” Joe said innocently. Booker just lifted an eyebrow. “Fine, I kinda told Quynh that Andy was nervous about something-”

“Oof, can’t show any signs of weakness,” Booker shook his head. “Older sibling 101.” He nodded his head behind him to his 3 brothers, the oldest of whom was a freshman and already, in Joe’s opinion kind, of obnoxious. His youngest brother was a pretty sweet kid, but he absolutely despised Booker for a reason that Joe couldn’t pick up on. Now that Joe thought about it he wasn’t 100% sure that it was entirely legal for a junior in high school to drive around that many children.

“You sound like a grumpy, old man,” Joe shoved him lightly.

“I am at heart,” Booker responded solemnly, making Joe roll his eyes. “What class do you have first?’ By the end of the year, they would definitely have each other’s schedules memorized, but on the third day of school, they barely knew what class they were going to when they walked in the door. 

“Uhhhhhh,” Joe pulled out his phone. “Chem,” he said it pretty casually but shortly after his eyes widened for a second and he made a little happy face.

“Oh,” Booker interrupted. “I know that face.”

“What face? I wasn’t making a face.”

“You like someone in your class!”

“No I don’t,” Joe glared at him.

“His name is Nicolo. He’s new, and he’s ~Italian~!” Andy shouted back at them, mocking Joe’s voice, as they approached the school, making Booker double over with laughter.

“I’m going to skin you, Andromache!” Joe yelled at her.


	2. They Say I Got a Lot of Water in My Brain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Featuring Joe's ADHD, Nile's art skills, Nicky's not perfect English (he's 16!!), and Andy and Booker sticking their noses in Joe's business

Joe’s knee was bobbing a mile a minute. It was 11:45, the dreaded class before lunch. It was Art History, which on any other day he would have called his favorite class. It was certainly his best grade-wise plus he genuinely enjoyed the material (and he could doodle in class without anyone yelling at him). It was just that his mind was running at the speed of sound, and Art History, for all its merits, is not notoriously fast paced. He was currently busy drawing the teacher, Mr. Copley, as a Picasso painting, finding some joy in making his face exaggerated and distorted, and trying to keep his mind off the GSA meeting next period and whether or not Nicolo would come after he very casually mentioned the meeting in English last period. 

“Wow! That’s really good!” Joe spun his head around like lightning to see a girl he’d never seen before whispering over his shoulder. “Oh sorry! I don’t mean to intrude, but that is soooooo cool! I’m Nile. I’m a new sophomore- military family,” she supplied before Joe could ask.

“I’m Joe, uh I’m a junior,” he whispered back, practically twisted all the way around in his chair. “I like yours too.” He tapped the doodle on her page. She was clearly trying to recreate Guernica at the top of her notes and, all things considered, was doing a pretty good job at it.

“Mr. Al-Kaysani,” Copley’s voice echoed in the room, somehow emphasizing the British-ness of his accent. “If you could try not to distract our new student, I would greatly appreciate it.” Joe swiveled back around in his chair as he heard Nile giggle quietly behind him. A couple minutes later he felt a small tap on his back and turned to see Nile handing him a tiny piece of paper. He unfolded it to see a tiny version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream with a tinier speech bubble, saying “Sorry!” in bouncy handwriting. Joe stuck it in his notebook and hazarded a stealthy grin over his shoulder. They spent the rest of class passing notes ‘the old fashioned way,’ drawing increasingly more complicated art history memes culminating in a rather unflattering portrait of Merrick as Henry VIII. 

The bell rang faster than Joe had expected, time being relative and all that, and before he knew it, he and Nile were walking hurriedly to the cafeteria together, both fawning over each other’s art skills at frequencies dogs could barely hear. 

“Uh, this is kind of embarrassing,” Nile started. “But do you know where Madame Cellier’s room is? I was hoping to go to a club there during Lunch, but I-” 

“You’re coming to GSA?” Joe asked, excitedly. “That’s it. You’re officially my new best friend.”

“Booker, you have been dethroned from your position as my best friend!” Joe declared as he presented Nile to the small crowd gathered in Mme. Cellier’s room. 

“Oh no. How will I ever survive?” Booker responded completely deadpan, not even looking up from his phone. 

“This is Nile,” Joe supplied. “This is Booker, my sister Andy, Lykon, Dizzy, Jay, and Madame Cellier,” he pointed around the room landing on the French teacher/GSA coordinator extraordinaire. She was very clearly the youngest of the teachers at their high school, almost blending in with her students with her dyed black hair and piercings.

“We’re making name tags right now,” Andy said, pointing to a sticker on her shirt reading ‘Andy, she/her, pansexual.’ “You don’t have to put anything you’re not comfortable with sharing on your sticker.”

Joe moved to set his stuff down beside the seat next to Booker’s with Nile following closely behind him. He grabbed two name tags off of Andy’s desk, giving one to Nile, and kneeled down beside his backpack to rummage through his backpack for his colored pens. 

“Is this Madame Cellier’s room?” a quiet voice asked from the doorway. Joe shot up so fast from his backpack that he managed to slam his head into the desk he was kneeling beside.

“Oh shit, Joe, are you okay?” Nile asked quickly. Andy and Booker, however, knew immediately what was happening- the voice from the door had a distinct Italian accent. Pair that with Joe being an absolute disaster… This was definitely Nicolo.

“Yes! It is! Are you here for the GSA meeting?” Andy started with a scarily wide smile, as far away from her previous apathetic demeanor as possible. “I’m Andy Al-Kaysani, GSA president.” She could feel Joe burning holes in the back of her head.

“Sebastien le Livre, you can call me Booker!” Booker popped up beside Andy, sticking his hand out for a mildly alarmed Nicolo to shake.   
“Uh, I’m Nicolo… I uh…” 

“We’re making name tags!” Joe pushed Andy and Booker out of the way only slightly violently. Nicolo visibly relaxed at the sight of Joe or more likely at the fact that he wouldn’t have to react to Andy and Booker. As Joe handed him a sticker and probably more pens than was necessary, Andy and Booker watched them intently, partially out of curiosity and partially to annoy Joe who glared angrily at them every few seconds. He was a cute kid, but he seemed pretty much like Joe’s antithesis. He seemed relatively quiet, and where Joe was very physical with awkward limbs flailing as he talked, Nicolo was clearly more closed off. That could easily just be because he was the new kid, not only in a new school but in an entirely new country, plus the fact that he was translating in his head constantly. Andy was a bit impressed in Joe’s taste this time; usually he “fell in love” with people a little bit more like him- not that that was a bad thing, just that having to deal with two loud, extroverted, intensely emotional teenagers wasn’t necessarily Andy’s ideal situation. (Joe’s breakups had always been incredibly messy, and guess who always had to deal with the aftermath.) 

“What do you think?” Booker whispered to her, sticking his name tag (Booker, he/him, Sexuality: ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ) on his shirt.

“I think we should start the meeting,” she said, loud enough for everyone to hear. She was definitely the type to silently judge her brother but gossiping about him, even with their mutual friends, crossed the line. Madame Cellier caught her hint and cleared her throat.

“Bonjour, class,” she said, sounding as much like a French teacher as ever. “My name is Madame Cellier. You may hear the older students refer to me as Celeste, but that honor is earned with age.” Andy made eye contact with Lykon across the room. He was beaming, clearly more excited about being a senior than Andy was. 

“I use she/her pronouns,” Mme. Cellier continued. “And I have a lovely girlfriend in France, although that is not really any of your business.” She smiled, making Nile mouth ‘Is she joking?’ to Joe. He just shrugged. “Would any of our new members like to introduce themselves?” 

“I can go!” Nile smiled. “I’m Nile, I’m a sophomore, uh-” she looked down at her name tag trying to remember what else to say. “She/her pronouns and I identify as asexual.” 

“Twins!” she heard a voice say from across the room. She could just make out the name tag that said “Dizzy, she/her, asexual.” Nile grinned back at her. After a few other new folks introduced themselves, the group's eyes turned to Nicolo. He paused for a moment.

“You don’t have to say anything you don’t want to!” Joe started.

“No, no it’s fine,” he cleared his throat. “It just takes me a second to… get the words.” He gestured vaguely to his head. “I’m Nicolo. You can call me Nicky. I’m a junior and I’m from Italy. I um- use he/him pronouns, and… that’s it I think.” Andy saw Joe’s smile falter in a way only a sister could notice. He was disappointed not to hear any confirmation that he might have a shot with Nicky, but she knew he would never pressure him to say anything he didn’t want to. Nicky turned to Joe with a small ‘that was ok, right?’ look, and Joe grinned at him. Andy glanced at Booker, who rolled his eyes-- they both knew that look. This crush wasn’t going away anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just cuz it's not enemies to lovers doesn't mean that I'm not gonna let Joe pine for a bit ;)
> 
> Chapter title is from Queen's "Somebody to Love"
> 
> Joe and Nile are art bros 🥰🥰🥰
> 
> Joe is a disaster, and I love him so much. Speaking of, this was a very Joe "Heart Eyes" Al-Kaysani -centric chapter, so I think next time will have more Andy (and more Quynh!) (and more Lykon!!)
> 
> (Also Celeste's last name is Cellier b/c it means storeroom or someone who works at a storehouse, and apparently I think I'm clever)
> 
> Sorry that so much of this is still setting up the background (so many introductions!)- there will be plot I promise.


	3. I Need You in My Blood, I Am Forsaking All the Rest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooo this chapter is all text and email (I was not planning on it being like that but my brain said No Dialogue, Only Texting soooo)
> 
> the names should be pretty clear except andy's contact name changes based on who she's texting  
> 💋😍Andy🥰❤️ is her name in Quynh's phone.  
> 🔪 Fighter of Men 🔪is her name in Lykon's phone.  
> and simply Andy Al-Kaysani is her name on Joe's phone because he's a nerd who puts people's full names as their contact info.

lykon 8:13 AM  
ANDROMACHE  
CHECK YOUR EMAIL 😤😤😤

\----

quynh <3 10:51 AM  
Good morning angel  
28 days til I see you in person ;)

quynh <3 11:20 AM  
Are you still asleep???  
Wake up!!!

quynh <3 11:33 AM  
Pay attention to me!!!

quynh <3 11:57 AM  
How can you possibly sleep this long??  
I’m beginning to think you’re mad at me or something

💋😍Andy🥰❤️ 11:59 AM  
I’m awake  
Attachment: 1 Image

quynh <3 loved an image

quynh <3 12:01 PM  
Aw sleepy baby  
Respond to Lykon he’s freaking out about halloween

💋😍Andy🥰❤️ 12:03 PM  
good morning to you too lol

\----

lykon 12:00 PM  
It is officially afternoon, so I am officially allowed to annoy you.

🔪 Fighter of Men 🔪 12:05 PM  
😒

lykon 12:06 PM  
Ah, so Quynh finally woke you up?  
No need to take 20 minutes answering that- did you read Mr. Merrick’s email? 😤😤😤

\----

Merrick, Steven

Sat, Oct 3, 8:05 AM  
to bcc: aalkaysani@crmhs.org

Good morning, all.

The beginning of October brings the beginning of something far more exciting- Halloween! However, with the fun of this holiday, there are also a few things I want you all to remember so your Halloween is not only exciting but also safe.  
1\. Please be smart over the Halloween weekend. We want to see you all again the next Monday and that means making good decisions over the weekend. You know the drill, but remember- if you choose to participate in activities that we as a school do not endorse, please do them safely. Do not drive under the influence.  
2\. We are hosting an advisory costume contest on Friday, October 30th. You’ll all make a group costume with your advisory to wear to school that day and a panel of judges will choose a winning advisory based on Creativity, Production, and full advisory participation.  
(Costumes must apply to the school dress code and not contain any offensive or derogatory language or stereotypes.)  
3\. The judging of the contest will be held at a mandatory all school assembly after school on Friday, October 30th.

Thank you all for reading, and I know I can’t wait for my advisory’s costume! Have a great weekend!

Steven Merrick  
Head of High School  
Clementine Rivers Magnet High School

\----

🔪 Fighter of Men 🔪 12:13 PM  
oh you have GOT to be kidding me

lykon 12:14 PM  
There goes our Winter Soldier/Falcon/Captain America costume idea.  
I was so excited :(((((

🔪 Fighter of Men 🔪 12:17 PM  
i guess we can still wear those over the weekend :///  
but he’s gonna keep us like an HOUR late the day before halloween  
not to mention the day quynhs driving here ://////////

lykon 12:18 PM  
I’ve already started on the wings :(  
And I know Quynh’s knee deep in duct tape and leather rn sooooo  
Lucky you I guess lol

🔪 Fighter of Men 🔪 12:22 PM  
but seriously  
im not letting steven stop me from seeing quynh in that costume

lykon 12:23 PM  
Glad your priorities are in the right place.

\----

quynh <3 12:32 PM  
So are our halloween plans still on? 🥺

💋😍Andy🥰❤️ 12:34 PM  
dont worry babe we’ll still do the costumes  
i’ll just skip the assembly

quynh <3 12:35 PM  
Don’t they usually take attendance at those?

💋😍Andy🥰❤️ 12:38 PM  
shit

\----

joe 12:40 PM  
HAVE YOU READ STEVEN F-ING MERRICKS EMAIL

Andy Al-Kaysani 12:42 PM  
i have :////////  
also did you really just censor yourself??

joe 12:43 PM  
wow youre up???  
but still  
IM SO PISSED OFF  
he has the nerves  
the audacity  
to infringe on the ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL’S halloween costumes????????  
not to mention  
that i FINALLY convinced booker to do a group costume with me nicky and nile

Andy Al-Kaysani 12:47 PM  
im still surprised you convinced him to do that

joe 12:48 PM  
hey it was a good idea  
niles dorothy costume is cute as hell

Andy Al-Kaysani 12:52 PM  
i think we both know thats not the reason your upset about this

joe 12:53 PM  
nickys tin man costume 🥺🥺🥺  
hes gonna put a funnel on his head  
andy his adorableness is actually going to kill me  
plus my plan for scarecrow makeup is 💯

Andy Al-Kaysani 1:02 PM  
lemme talk to steven about this  
i have an idea  
and if nothing else you can just wear the costumes on saturday

joe 1:04 PM  
if i cant show of my costume to celeste than what is even the point

Andy Al-Kaysani 1:06 PM  
um nicky with a funnel hat?

joe 1:07 PM  
hey when youre right youre right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its halloween babeys 
> 
> also i know this kinda sounds like low stakes but halloween is a big deal guys (and things will get more intense later ofc)
> 
> Chapter title is from Melissa Etheridge's "Come to My Window" (which I would highly recommend if you're looking for angsty andromaquynh ish songs)
> 
> also i named their high school after KiKi Layne's character in If Beale Street Could Talk bc KiKi could slap me across the face and i would thank her
> 
> @canon give us more Lykon!!! idk how to write for this amazing man who we only saw for like 5 seconds!!!
> 
> if it wasn't clear here's the list of costumes that they were planning on wearing:  
> Andy- Captain America (Steve Rogers version)  
> Quynh- Winter Soldier (I was going to switch andy and quynh's bc andy's hair matches bucky's better but then i was like quynh in a leather outfit 🤔🤔🤔)  
> Lykon- the Falcon  
> Nile- Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz  
> Joe- The Scarecrow  
> Nicky- The Tin Man  
> Booker- The Cowardly Lion (was i purposefully calling booker a coward? who knows?)


	4. I Still Don't Know What I Was Waiting For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, plot happens. Featuring Merrick's first in person appearance. (Quite a short chapter, be prepared for the super fun 👻spooky 🎃chapter coming soon!)

“Uhhhh Andy… Are you sure this is worth it?” 

“I’m doing what I have to, Joe,” she spat back at him. Lykon and Joe shared a look of "she's going crazy but I'm too scared of my eminent death to tell her." They were sitting on Andy’s bed next to a slightly concerned Quynh on FaceTime on Andy's phone. 

“Babe, I know you’re excited for Halloween and all,” Quynh started, “But like, are you seriously going to try and talk Merrick out of this whole advisory costume thing?”

“I actually think this might work.”

“Thank you, Lykon!” Andy replied.

“Emphasis on ‘might’ though,” he corrected.

“Love the enthusiasm,” Andy glared at him.

“He has a point though. You’re pretty much the only one who could convince him to cancel it. I mean as long as you emphasize that you want to “give back to the community” or “speak up for the students” or whatever.” Joe responded, using air quotes as necessary.

“I think I’m making that pretty clear.” Andy responded gesturing towards her laptop which displayed a presentation titled “Why Halloween Costumes Should Be Up to the Students” with the subtitle “Community Engagement through Choice not Mandatory Programming.” 

“I would also work on not rolling your eyes every time Steven says something,” Lykon smirked. “Typically people appreciate not being actively made fun of when you’re asking for something.”

“I don’t know if that’s possible,” Andy smirked.

“As long as I don’t have to hear a rant about your meeting after the fact,” Joe grimaced.

“Oh, you definitely will,” Quynh smirked. “I will too.”

“Ughhhh,” Joe flopped down on his back. “Is it too late to abort this whole mission?”

“Yep,” Andy responded. “The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow during my free period. Also I made an entire presentation about this-- I’m not backing out now.”

And so at 9:05 AM, Andy found herself standing outside Steven Effing Merrick’s office. The door was decorated in pictures of him with old students. They were smiling but it was clearly that pained “Ugh, my parents want me to pose for a picture with this annoying teacher” smile. Andy painfully plastered that same smile on her face and knocked on the door.

“Andromache!” Andy forced herself to mask her natural inclination to roll her eyes.

“Hi, Mr. Merrick!” Andy grinned, trying to channel her inner Joe. “Thank you for meeting with me!”

“No problem! How was your weekend?”

“It was great!” Andy nodded, wanting to disclose as little of her personal life to this asswipe as possible. “So, I wanted to talk to you about Halloween this year.”

“Oh, did you have an idea for our advisory halloween costumes?”

“Um noooo, I uh, I wanted to talk about a different plan for Halloween. Would it be possible to let the students choose their own costumes?” Andy replied as nicely as she was physically capable of. Merrick paused for a second clearly reaching for the ‘diplomatic’ way of answering.

“Well that would be quite a change of plans, why do you propose we do that?” he put on a smile that was halfway to a sneer. “Barring personal interest, of course.”

“Well,” Andy nearly slammed a packet of papers onto his desk, putting on an equally intimidating grin (quite a feat for an 18 year old). “As you’ll see in the document I’ve created and in the presentation I’ve recently shared with you, it is not simply ~personal~ interest. I’ve included statistics from a small sample of the students in our community showing that the vast majority of students are against the mandatory costume contest. I've also complied a list of fairly scathing quotes in favor of cancelling a mandatory advisory Halloween costume. One student called the advisory costume a quote unquote infringement of student freedoms while another called it an embarrassment to the school’s reputation of celebrating individuality and self expression.” She neglected to tell him that these scathing reviews were from Booker and Joe respectively and the “small sample” of students was just Lykon’s AP Physics class. “I can’t tell you to do anything, but I think it would be unwise and a bit dismissive to ignore your students’ wishes by continuing your plans for Halloween.”

The two stared at each other for a solid three minutes, before Merrick arched an eyebrow and spoke, “Well done. I can’t say that I entirely expected that, but I admire the initiative you took on this project. I’ll look over this ‘data’ as you’ve put it, and I’ll- I’ll see what I can do.” Andy grinned. “No promises! But you should know that I am really on your side here, Andromache. Frankly,” he put his hand to his mouth like he was sharing a secret. “I have a killer King Lear costume that I was hoping to break out this year.”

“Great,” Andy said with any remaining enthusiasm left in her body. “Thank you so much for meeting with me!”

“Your welcome! Let me know if I can help you with anything else.” Andy barely heard the end of his sentence before shutting the door behind her.

\----  
lykon 4:13 PM  
ANDROMACHE  
CHECK YOUR EMAIL!!!!!!!!!!  
\----

Merrick, Steven   
Mon, Oct 19, 4:05 PM  
to bcc: aalkaysani@crmhs.org 

Good morning, all.

I wanted to let you all know that due to popular demand the advisory costume contest on Friday, October 30th has been cancelled. You will all be permitted to wear costumes of your own choosing, and the assembly after school has been cancelled. Once again, costumes must apply to the school dress code and not contain any offensive or derogatory language or stereotypes.

Though I’m sad not to have an advisory costume, I’m incredibly impressed by the initiative taken by individuals in the student body to make a change in the community. Thank you all for reading! Have a great week!

Steven Merrick   
Head of High School   
Clementine Rivers Magnet High School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> andy out here fighting the good fight!! as someone who has tricked many a school administrator into liking me, im really vibing with andy on this one. also her fake smile is 100% just 🙂with an eye twitching every now and then
> 
> next chapter is the halloween party babeys!!!!!!! it's going to be a fun/long/intense chapter so thank yall for sticking it out until we get there lololol also no spoilers but nicky's def been invited to the party 🤔🤔🤔
> 
> Chapter title is from Changes by David Bowie (once again, I don't know how to make chapter titles lol)
> 
> it's hard making merrick stay the right amount of villainish but also like posh douchebagish, idk i tried

**Author's Note:**

> The work title is from "Grade 9" by The Barenaked Ladies (@ my taste in music)
> 
> I have 0 idea how long this is going to be or when my next update will be, I'm still very new at this (this is my first fic with multiple chapters!), so please be patient! :)
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading! I can't tell you how happy it makes me when I see kudos!


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